Suckerpunch
by MerlinWept
Summary: "Writing a novel." Jughead explains. "It's about this summer and Jason Blossom." She tilts her head and frowns. "I get the Jason Blossom part but what happened this summer to make it so special?" [JugheadxOC]
1. Chapter 1

**~1~**

Betty smiled awkwardly at Veronica as they stood in the office. It was Veronica's first day and Betty's millionth time peer-mentoring someone. She liked Veronica enough, knowing the girl's history (as everyone in Riverdale did), she was expecting her to be more like Cheryl and she wasn't.

That was good. There was only place for one Cheryl in Riverdale.

No, wait, there was only place for one Cheryl in the world.

"I'm sorry, but why are we waiting here again?" Veronica asked and Betty revised her opinion at the snooty tone. Perhaps she was a bit more like Cheryl than Betty thought.

"We're waiting for the other new student." Betty answered coolly and Veronica was taken aback.

"Sorry, it's just that I really want to get this over with so things can begin." She said with a hint of apology in her voice. Not as blithely unaware then.

The creak of the door opening kept Betty from answering and they both turned to see what was hopefully the new student, peer in.

"Um, hi, I'm looking for Elizabeth Cooper?"

"Abigail Davies?" The girl nodded in clear relief and stepped in, hands twisting the handle of the brown cross body bag slung over her shoulders. She wasn't the knockout that Veronica was, it was a little bit less likely that Archie would ignore Betty to turn and stare at her (she hoped) but she was adorable nonetheless.

Cream shirt tucked into red corduroy skirt, whimsically cute cat faced but sensible flats, and messy black hair pulled into two loose pigtails. Betty wanted to smush her cheeks and coo. "I love your shoes." Betty said instead. And Abigail beamed.

"Thank you, I got them off Etsy." She began bouncing on the balls of her feet, nervous. "Should we begin with the tour?" She said and Betty shook herself out of her stupor and began leading the two out the door.

"So, I usually start off my tours with a little history and context. Riverdale High first opened its doors in 1941 and-"

"And hasn't been redecorated since, apparently," Veronica said, taking over the conversation. Betty thought it was probably a good predictor of her life for the next few years, she had seen how Veronica had been interested in Archie and how Archie had reciprocated. "Honestly I feel like I'm walking through the lost epilogue of 'Our Town'."

Betty laughed awkwardly.

"What's 'Our Town'?" Abigail said and Veronica stopped to gape at her.

"You don't know 'Our Town'?!"

"It's a play," Betty explained and Abigail nodded.

"Is it in our syllabus this year or something?"

"No, it's just...famous."

Abigail shrugged and started walking again, leaving Veronica to speed walk in her high heels to catch up.

"So what's the social scene like here? Any night clubs?"

"A strip club called the Ho Zone," Kevin said, appearing out of nowhere to sidle next to Veronica and Betty breathed, thankful for his presence. "and a tragic gay bar called Innuendo. Friday nights, football games and then tailgate parties at the Mallmart parking lot. Saturday night is movie night regardless of what's playing at the Bijou, and you better get there early because we don't have reserved seating in Riverdale. And Sunday nights..." Kevin threw his arm around Betty and she relaxed a bit. "Thank God for HBO."

"Veronica Lodge, Abigail Davies, Kevin Keller." Betty introduced them. Abigail tucked herself closer to Betty while Veronica and Kevin turned to face each other, vibrating out of their skin in excitement. "They're new here, Kevin is-"

"Gay, thank God. Let's be best friends."

"Is it true what they say about your dad?" Kevin said, and Betty wondered whether she should laugh or cry as Veronica froze.

"That he's the devil incarnate? I stand by my father. Does everyone here know?"

Their silence was enough answer and Veronica's nostrils flared with anger. "Wonderful, ten minutes in and I'm already the Blue Jasmine of Riverdale High."

"Blue Jasmine? Is that your stripper name or something?" Abigail asked, and beside her Kevin made a high pitched noise even as Veronica stepped closer to Abigail, clearly angry.

"Do you know nothing about popular culture?" She sneered and to her credit, Abigail didn't back down, only tilted her head, all innocence.

"Not really. I assume that you're like the Kardashians but with less money and fewer implants?"

"Don't forget the lack of a reality show." Veronica said, fake smile in place and stepped away, walking away in anger and Betty looked at Kevin, wondering what to do.

"Do you really not know who the Lodges are?" Kevin asked Abigail and she shrugged.

"Saw the name when flipping through channels but that's when the Earth like planet near the sun had been discovered so didn't really care. What did they do?"

And as Kevin quietly filled Abigail in, Betty spend up and followed after Veronica, trying to take her mind off things by pointing out different rooms and hallways and their history. By the time Abigail and Kevin caught up with them Veronica was calm again and Abigail was apologetic.

"I really didn't know about your Dad's deal." The new girl said in lieu of an apology. Her hands twisted the band of her bag again and Betty wondered if she was like her. "In my defense, you look more like the Kardashians than that Khloe girl does."

Finally, Veronica smiled, "That's not exactly saying much."

"What were you guys talking about?" Kevin asked.

"The back to school Semi Formal."

"I heard it might be getting canceled because of what happened to Jason."

"Who's Jason, and what happened to him?" Veronica asked and even as Kevin filled her in she felt herself losing all interest.

Jason reminded Betty of Polly. Reminded her of the secrets her parents were keeping from her.

Reminded her that it had been _months_ since she had seen her sister.

* * *

The first chance she got, Abigail got away from the others. Betty was nice, Kevin was informative and Veronica was fine too once you got over the Lodge part, but they seemed a bit high maintenance. When the time for the assembly came she separated from them, insisting that they should just sit down wherever they got the space, all but running away. From her spot at the corner next to the guy with the beanie and the laptop she could see the three still whispering as the auditorium steadily filled up and sighed in relief. They were a bit too fast lane for her.

But then time went on and the assembly still hadn't started. On her right, the groups of people were talking on the left the clicking of keys sounded. When ten minutes went by, her patience left her and she took her phone out and googled Jason Blossom. She had only gotten through the first article when the auditorium quieted and she turned to the stage, putting her phone quickly.

As the girl she could only assume was Jason Blossom's twin sister climbed the stage, she gasped.

"Ariel!" She said under her breath but wasn't as quiet as she thought she was as the boy on the laptop snorted.

"Don't be fooled by appearances, she's more Ursula than Ariel."

"Ursula's theme song is better anyway," She whispered back with a shrug, only to shut up as Ariel began speaking.

"Ariel," She thought out loud contemplating Cheryl Blossom, "Rapunzel," Clearly Betty, "And Jasmine," Of course Veronica.

She still wasn't as quiet as she thought she was, however, as laptop boy chimed in. "More like Blue Jasmine."

"Does everyone know that movie except for me?!" She whined, and laptop boy snorted.

"Very probably." The assembly ended soon enough but before Abigail could ask laptop boy his name he disappeared. As Betty cornered her on the way out and had her socializing with Kevin and Veronica again, she could only envy his skill at that.

* * *

It is late at night when the other new girl walks into Pop's with a wild look in her eye and a behemoth of a laptop bag. She asks Pop something in hushed tones, Pop's booming laugh and answer setting her a bit at ease, and then she turns and walks down the booths.

"Laptop boy." She tells him with a curt nod and Jughead cannot help but answer with a nod of his own.

"Disney girl." He acknowledges and then she sits in the booth behind his own.

 _'Are you skyping me from an American diner?'_ Asks an accented tinny voice and Jughead fights the urge to turn around.

"It's going to take a week to get wifi up and running at the house for some godforsaken reason. I thought this was the 21st century, but I was _wrong_." She hisses and then the tinny voice cuts off. In the reflection on the glass Jughead can see that she has headphones on, and when she begins speaking again it is in a quiet voice and oddly enough, in German.

From the halting way she talks, slowly gaining confidence, repeating words, correcting her pronunciation, he can guess that she must be getting tutored in the language. It is grating at first, he spends ages looking at the page open in front of him, wondering what to write, interrupted by her voice but eventually it fades away. A town car passes by the diner, and as he follows its movement he sees blonde hair peeking out from behind the window.

Probably Betty getting a lift home from Veronica Lodge, he concludes. Kevin had been talking loudly in his vicinity, about them going shopping for the Semi-formal, and between that and the soft spoken and halting German from the booth behind him, he is inspired again and his fingers begin hitting the keyboard.

* * *

It is the night of the Semi-formal and Jughead has been at Pop's for hours. He's seen the groups of people coming in, loading up on food in anticipation of getting very drunk. There's usually a couple or so around at Pop's but tonight everyone is at the Semi-formal. Even Disney girl must be there he concludes, only to have his expectations dashed as she walks into the diner. She comes in with nothing but a tiny bag capable of holding a wallet on her, no laptop this time and walks up to his booth for once.

"Not at the Semi-formal?" She asks him, not waiting for his permission to swing herself into the seat across from him. He would be annoyed but it is too much effort and he only sighs instead.

"Do I seem like the type to go to a non-compulsory school function?" He says sardonically but she only grins in response.

"Yes, mostly to observe and profile the students in wake of a murder, especially since they'd be drunk and thus more free with words."

He pauses mid-sentence and considers it. She makes a valid point, so he tells her so and she beams.

"No laptop this time?" He asks and she shrugs.

"It's a Saturday, I usually have sessions on weekdays only. I'm learning German."

"I know."

"And what are you doing?"

"Writing a novel. It's about this summer and Jason Blossom." She tilts her head and frowns.

"I get the Jason Blossom part but what happened this summer to make it so special?"

Jughead considers her for a while before he smiles. It is an unexpected surprise but one that pleases him.

No one caught on to that that part before. They fixated on the bit about Jason Blossom, not the summer.

"Things changed this summer. Some little changes, some big. Some internal, some external." He leans forward and leans in as well, curious. It sends a thrill down his spine because this is exactly why he is writing. So someone would finally _listen_. "Jason's disappearance, it isn't one of those changes, it's a result. So, what other consequences are going to come?"

"Jughead, Abigail," Archie's voice comes and Jughead is startled. He was so caught up telling Disney girl, Abigail, now he knows, about his novel that he hadn't noticed his once best friend come up to them.

It's odd. He's never been so unaware of Archie before. Especially not since he began disappointing him on such a regular basis. Not since he missed their trip and filled Jughead with the kind of cold rage that he wasn't letting go of anytime soon.

"Archer," Abigail says and Jughead smirks, "What brings you here?"

"It's Archie and uhm, have you guys seen Betty here?"

"Nope." She answers cheerily, "Maybe try her place of residence instead?"

"Yeah, I'm headed there now I just-" Archie dithered, turning this way and that, looking at Jughead from under his eyelashes and Jughead got the hint.

"I think he wants to talk to me privately, Disney girl."

She looks up at Archie and glares, "Couldn't afford my insight anyway," She sniffs and goes off to the counter.

Archie looks at him awkwardly, fiddling with his hands as he sits where Abigail did moments ago.

"What are you working on?" He asks, as if it meant anything to him. Jughead already knew it didn't.

"My novel. It's about this summer, and Jason Blossom." He waits to see if Archie caught what Abigail did but already know he will be disappointed.

"Seventeen years old, and how will he be remembered? As captain of the water polo team?"

"The Aquaholics? Considering how he died, probably not."

"No, what I mean is...was he doing everything he was supposed to do? Everything he wanted, I mean did he even know what that was?"

Jughead looked away for a brief second, wondering what he would say to that. He supposed there was a part of him that still expects Jason to be alive, only missing. He supposed they all did.

And at the counter, waiting impatiently, Abigail looks at the two of them sitting and rolls her eyes. 'Somebody's projecting' She mouths and Jughead suppresses a smirk, knowing full well that Archie wouldn't take it too well.

He changes the topic then to Archie making Varsity and Archie frowns.

"I'm kind of terrified I lost my best friend tonight."

"If you mean Betty," Jughead says, if only to force Archie to remember that it may very well have been him he was talking about. There was a time when Jughead had held the title of 'Archie's best friend' too. "Whatever happened just talk to her, you know. It would go a long way. Would have gone a long way with me." Archie nods silently and the silence drags on.

Until finally, Abigail comes over, two shakes in hand and hands one over to Jughead before turning to Archie.

"Are you going to Betty's house now?" She says and Archie all but pouts as he stands to leave. He isn't even out the door when Abigail slides into the seat he vacated and huffs. "And people call _you_ emo."

And Jughead laughs.


	2. Chapter 2

**~2~**

Jughead was good company, Abigail decided. He didn't feel the need to fill the silence with words, so she could sit across from him and look out the window without being asked a million questions about what she was doing or thinking or watching.

Out the window she could see the silhouette of trees against a moonlit sky. Between the clicking of the keys and the sway of the trees she began to droop, all but laying down on the table, her head pillowed on her crossed arms. It was as close to sleep as she would get and so she took it, eyes open and watching.

Then something changed. There was no feeling in the air, no building anticipation or anything like that. One minute the world was calm and quiet, the next her phone beeped at the same time as Jughead's, Pop's following soon after. She didn't check to see what it was, muted it and went back to looking out the window but moments later, Jughead's sudden and sharp inhale caught her attention and blearily she sat up straight.

"What happened?"

Something _must_ have happened because Jughead hadn't gone back to typing again, instead scrolling through his phone. He looked up at her, a stitch in his brow, "Jason's body's been found."

And with that, all sense of calm was gone and she picked up her phone as well. The group chats she was reluctantly on for group projects and clubs were buzzing with news about him. Jason's body hadn't just been found, he'd been found with a bullet hole in the middle of his head.

"People who drown accidentally don't tend to have gunshot wounds, do they?"

Jughead pursed his mouth, "No, they do not." He began typing quickly now, to the point where it began sounding less like typing and more like the pitter-patter of a downpour against a window, but stopped just as quickly as his phone beeped again.

"They're hauling the body out of the water." He said and quick as could be shut his laptop off and stuck it into his bag, hauling it over his shoulder and all but running out. She watched his receding figure from the window before going back to her sprawled out position, her phone out in front of her.

She hummed as she waited and in half an hour her patience paid dividend as Reggie posted where the body had been found on twitter.

Abigail didn't bother running out the way Jughead did, she was in no hurry. She paid her tab, said a cheery goodbye to Pop and walked home first. The light in the kitchen was on so she opened the door and went straight there. Her father was sitting at the kitchen island, eating pizza.

"Hey Princess."

"If I'd known we had pizza I wouldn't have gone to Chock'lit." She said and he made a face.

"It's not very good pizza, you were better off there."

"Can I borrow your camera kit for a while?"

"Did you see an owl or something?" Her dad asked. His camera kit was for amateur wildlife photography, after all, and Riverdale was reported to have some interesting birds around. Pity then, that she was going to use it for something so drastically different.

"No, but they found Jason Blossom's body on the banks of Sweetwater and I thought I'd try to get some pictures."

He frowned, "Alright, but you know the rule."

Her parents had only one rule. It read 'You're a teenager and you'll do stupid things. As long as you tell us about the stupid things you do and are willing to have an open and critical discussion about them, we won't stop you.'

They'd have a long conversation about whether her curiosity was veering into unhealthy territory later, for now there was a crime scene to photograph.

* * *

Given that he hadn't seen Abigail around when Jason's body was dragged out, Jughead figured she wasn't as interested in Riverdale's drama or his book, as much as she seemed to. It was a pity, he could have used another set of eyes to see if he had missed out on anything. Still, it sort of made sense. She was the new girl after all, he couldn't force her to care about Jason about a boy she hadn't even met, or force her to care about Riverdale when she'd leave in a couple of years and jet off to college anyway.

"Pity," He sighed only to look up as Archie strode in. His former best friend pointedly ignored him, making his way to the back instead and Jughead knew he was on to something asking Archie about 4th of July. He knew something.

"Seats everyone, pair off, gloves on, scalpels up." Mr Flutesnoot announced as he walked in and the partner calling began.

The wheezy and loud, "I call dibs on Jughead!" came as a surprise, and an out of breath and flushed Abigail slid into the seat next to him.

"Look at me, getting picked as a partner and everything." Jughead said sarcastically.

"You're the belle of the ball," She beamed even as she ripped the wrapper off the scalpel and began making neat incisions in the frog, "How's your novel going?" She asked as she pinned the frog to reveal the organs.

"I didn't think you cared. You weren't there at the river bank when they hauled him out. Here, I'll do the membrane," He said and she handed him the scalpel.

"I figured they'd cordon off that side, so I got my dad's camera and took pics from the Greendale side of the river."

The scalpel jolted in his hand but luckily he managed not to pierce any organs."You did? I didn't see you there."

"Went up a tree, it gave me a better view. For a corpse that was supposedly floating around for so long he was in good condition."

Jughead could have screamed. By the time he'd reached the bank they'd set up a tarp around the area and he hadn't managed to get a good look until the sun was up and Jason's body was in a zipped up bag. And now he found out that Abigail had seen Jason's body and by the sounds of it, gotten pictures as well.

He opened and closed his mouth a few times, wondering what to say before just leaning in, "Can I take a look at the photos?"

She shrugged, "Yeah sure, Pop's after school?"

Jughead could only snort at her naivete. Go through pictures of a corpse in a public area, like that wouldn't get them hauled into the police station for questioning. "Maybe somewhere people are less likely to see us looking at ill begotten photos of a corpse whose murder is currently under investigation.", He said in his most sardonic tone.

"I guess we can go to my place but I should warn you the wifi is shit."

"We'll hotspot it." He couldn't help but smile and she beamed back.

"What are you lovebirds talking about?" Tina's grating, snide voice reached over to them and Jughead rolled his eyes. Tina had hated him ever since the English teacher had sung his praises while telling her to buck up. But taking it out on Abigail was a bit much.

"We were fighting over who gets to take the stomach and intestines out!" Abigail grinned picking up the scalpel, "I won."

And Tina paled and turned around.

Jughead wondered, not for the first time, if Abigail was doing that on purpose or if it was as guileless as it appeared. Surely, she knew what it did, what it looked like when she in all her almost middle school-esque innocent glory, voiced things like that.

They'd had years to get used to Cheryl's creepiness, Abigail's brand was still too new.

"Excellent job Mr Jones, Miss Davies." Professor's Snooteflute said as he looked over their cut open frog carcass before moving on to yell at Archie and Cheryl for their ugly piece of butchery. No questions who'd done that as Archie looked like he was about to faint. And soon it was time for lunch.

* * *

"Are you following me?" Jughead asked Abigail as they sat down on the grass where he usually sat. She had kept a vague conversation going the entire time, making sure to stay with him in the hallways, in the line for lunch and into the yard. Jughead, who'd been having lunch alone for the last few semesters now wasn't sure how to deal with it. Pop's was one thing but school was another.

"Well, Archie's avoiding you, but Betty is trying to show Archie that she is fine with him which means she will go where he is. So, if I sit with you, Archie'll avoid you and so Betty will end up avoiding me. Win-win."

"And why are you avoiding Betty again?"

She sighed. "She's taking the peer-mentorship way too seriously, she wants me to get to know the school by making me hang out with them."

"You know, most people like having someone be so nice to them and help them become accepted at their new school." Betty was always doing stuff like that, the perpetual girl-next-door. "I figured you'd like hanging out with your Jasmine and Rapunzel."

"Not while they're having a shit fight over ginger Prince Charming."

"Ah, Harry, the man of all our dreams." He said, affecting a wistful tone and she snorted.

"Yeah, see that," She pointed to where Archie and Betty were having a blow up. "It's a fucking train wreck and I,-Well hey, there's something new."

Principal Weatherbee and Archie began talking and Jughead stood up straight. The way Principal Weatherbee was looking at Archie was not unlike the way Jughead had watched his friend when asking him about the fourth of July mishap.

"Something's up," Reluctantly he put his tray away and got up. As Archie left for the school building, he followed too, "Come on."

As quietly as they could, they followed Archie. When finally they turned a corner to see no one there, he swore quietly at having lost him.

"Jughead," Came a soft whisper and he saw Abigail gesturing at him furiously to come over to where she was peering in through the little pane of glass in the door of the music room and he joined her only to reel at what he was seeing.

Ms Grundy and Archie in an illegally intimate embrace.

The bell's ringing had the couple springing apart and Abigail pulled him away as students streamed into the hallway.

"Oh my God, Ms Grundy and Archie," She said, her face twisted in disbelief, "We have to tell someone, we have to talk to Weatherbee before-"

"No!"

"What do you mean no?" She said, all up in his face and with a hint of a threat to her voice that had him wanting to pull away, but he stood his ground.

"I mean...look let me just talk to him, alright? I don't want to-" believe, "assume anything is happening."

She crossed her arms and snorted in disbelief and...

And he didn't blame her. She'd seen exactly what he'd seen, after all, and whatever it was, it was definitely inappropriate.

"Just give me one day." He all but begged. "I'll talk to him this evening, before I come over to yours for the photos. Please?"

Abigail twisted her mouth but he could see her relenting. "One day, that's all. And you have to tell me everything he tells you in your little 'talk'. "

"Anything, yes, thank you!" He said and stumbled away, hand shaking as he ran it over his mouth.

He'd never been at such a loss of words before and only hoped Archie could give him some good news.

* * *

Abigail was very angry for all that it didn't show. Someone who didn't know her wouldn't be able to tell, as she typed away sedately, waiting for Jughead. She went through the pictures of the one ginger boy to keep her from thinking too hard on another ginger boy and wrote all her observations down.

She had already sent the pictures to her former neighbor, Mr Holt, who worked as a private investigator. He'd sent over his notes but she hadn't gone through them yet. It would be interesting to see if they had any overlap or if she was completely off base in what she'd interpreted from the corpse.

By the time the bell rang, it had been five hours since school had let out. If this was the week before, she would have been at Pop's right now, a couple of milkshakes downed already. But it wasn't and with a steadying breath she got up and ambled down the stairs.

Her dad had opened the door already and Jughead had shrunken in on himself, eyes flicking between dad and her awkwardly.

"You must be Jughead," Dad said, "We've heard a lot about you." Jughead looked even more terrified at that. It amused her. "I'm going down to the store, do you guys want anything?"

"No, thank you ." Jughead said awkwardly once he realized that her dad was waiting for him to answer as well.

"Princess?" Her dad turned to her.

"One strawberry milkshake, three burgers and some onion rings from Pop's, please. And we're out of cereal too."

"Got it," Dad put on his coat and picked the keys off the side table, all but out the door when he turned back one last time, "You know where the condoms are?" He asked her and Jughead choked on his tongue.

"I don't think seeing pictures of a bloated corpse are going to put us in an amorous mood."

Her dad grinned and ruffled her hair, "Stay safe." He said and shut the door behind him.

"Your dad thinks we're hooking up?!"

"Nah, he's just saying that if we were to hook up, we should do it here instead of some skeevy hotel. And he was messing with you."

She did inherit that trait from him, after all.

"More importantly, what did Archie say?"

The whole story came tumbling out of him and he began pacing the room, antsy. She didn't blame him, it was a shitty thing all round and the fact that Jason's murder was caught up in it made it even messier.

"But we have to tell someone." She insisted.

"We can't,"

"Jughead you're not protecting anyone by staying mum."

"It's not that. I mean-," He sat down heavily, running his hand over his face. "Will they even believe us? They won't believe _me_ , not unless Archie backs me up and I don't think he will. And you're new and they won't want to believe you over Ms Grundy, she's been working at school for three years now."

"But that's why we need to tell someone, she's been working at the school for three years, how many other kids has she done this to?" Jughead slumped over, putting his head between his knees, utterly morose and she sighed, "Alright, fine let's think about this. Do you have any pictures of her, clear ones where you can see all her features properly?"

"Yeah, I might have something."

"Ok, then. My old neighbor was a private detective, I'd sent him Jason's pictures already to get an expert opinion, I'll send him Grundy's details, see what dirt he digs up. If she's that calm, and that efficient at getting Archie to shut up even when there's been a murder, I doubt it's the first crime she's committed. Has anyone noticed anything weird about her, apart from us?"

"Nothing, she's been normal. Archie's been weird but no one's mentioned anything off about her." He sighed, "Even if they did, people will just think it's about Jason. Speaking of,-"

"Yeah, come on."

They had pictures of a corpse to look at.

* * *

The student lounge was unusually packed. Everyone was talking about Jason, the football team holding court as they all talked about being interrogated. Their loud boasting made for a good cover as Jughead and Abigail stood in the corner next to the vending machine, talking about Jason as well, although their talk was much different.

"I mean with the ligature marks and the pre-mortem bruising, it's pretty clear that he was held captive and tortured for a while. Long enough for those to get so noticeable." Abigail whispered to him, waving her hands about as usual.

"Right." Jughead agreed even as his stomach turned. The PI had said that it was very likely Jason was shot before being thrown into the water, no drowning, that he'd been tied down with ropes and tortured, that either he'd died more recently than July 4th or that he'd been frozen for a while at least. Even taking those conclusions with a grain of salt, knowing that the PI wasn't the one conducting the autopsy, he was merely making assumptions off the pictures, it was still a damning thing to realize.

"But we know that apart from Cheryl, the guy from the gas station saw Jason as well on July 4th. So that was the last time he was definitely seen."

"Where are you going with this?"

"I just keep thinking that it doesn't sound like Jason died on July 4th. Even if he was only kept captive for six hours or so before being shot, that still means that the gunshot they heard can't have been the one that killed Jason, right?"

"There might be another body left to find." Jughead realizes.

"No one else has gone missing, have they?" She asked and Jughead's jaw clenched.

Jason was a Blossom. He was the star quarterback, the captain of the water polo team.

He was _important_.

But if someone from the Southside went missing, no alarms would be raised. It would be an open investigation that would go 'cold' soon enough. There were some people that the sheriff and the police department wouldn't bother spending resources on. Hell, Jughead was one of them.

"Just because no one's been reported as missing, doesn't mean they aren't."

"Well, that sucks. Maybe-"

"-Like Jughead." Reggie's braying voice called out and they turned to see the boy looking at him. "What was it like Suicide Squad? When you shot Jason. You didn't do stuff to the body did you? Like...after."

Before Jughead could say a word, Abigail was striding forward, "Reggie Mantle, I hope you haven't been talking like this around Ollie!" She screeched, hands on her hips, and Reggie blanched.

Curious, Jughead remembered Oliver Mantle, Reggie's baby brother. How, back in middle school when he'd been born Reggie spent every waking moment boasting all about his perfect little sibling. It had been all the boy would talk about which was an improvement over his usual shit.

But he wondered how Abigail knew.

"Have you been telling him horror stories, is this why he's been having nightmares?!" She continued and Reggie stammered. She didn't wait for him to say a word, going off on a tirade again, "I cannot believe you would do something like this, you know that boy looks up to you, is this the example you're going to set for him?" She huffed.

"What no, I'm not-" Watching Reggie flounder was an incredibly amusing sight. Jughead leaned back and relaxed to enjoy it better. But then Reggie put his hand on her arm, trying to push her forward and all sense of calm disappeared. "Let's just talk in private-"

"Oh, I'm not going anywhere alone with you. You know Ollie's been having scared of you being murdered like Jason and _this_ is what you do? You make me sick!" She said and stormed off.

"Fuck, I need to talk to her." Reggie gathered his things and made to rush after her, when Chuck's mocking laughter stopped him.

"Are you serious? You need to defend yourself because some piece of ass thinks you're a shit brother?"

"Fuck off Clayton, just because your dad already knows you're an asshole doesn't mean all of our should families hate us too. She's Ollie's babysitter, if she tells my mom and dad about this, they'll kill me."

Jughead whistled as the football team began to schism. All because Reggie decided to call him a necrophiliac.

What a world.

* * *

Pep rallies were not Abigail's thing. She probably should have gone anyway, this one seemed to be more about Jason than about...pep. But in the adventure of the weekend's events she'd forgotten to do her homework, too busy thinking about murder, and tomorrow was the deadline for the English assignment. How wonderful.

Two food breaks and giant coffee mugs later she was only half done with the assignment when the text from Jughead came.

' _Archie telling bee about gunshot tomorrow'_

Well, whoop-de-freakin-doo.

' _ **And what about the sexual predator?'**_

' _One uphill battle at a time._

 _Plus I'm kinda hoping he'll get nervous in the questioning and slip up.'_

It was possible. Still, she'd rather take care of the Grundy thing first. As cruel as it sounded, Jason was already dead. She knew how abusive relationships worked, how they fucked with a person's mind. It wasn't a mentality she wanted Archie to fester in.

An hour down she was finally done with the paper and raced to open up her phone. It had been beeping non stop but when she'd seen it was just a live-tweet of the pep rally she'd put it on mute and focused. Now, she opened it up again to see that things had gotten dramatic, with Cheryl finally having that breakdown that she should have ages ago.

Another message caught her eye. Mr Holt had told her to look at the dossier he'd sent on Ms Grundy as soon as possible and be careful with that woman and keep her parents in the loop.

Now, Mr Holt was a very clam man. Not a lot fazed him and he knew very well that not a lot fazed her either.

So, for him to tell her so explicitly to be careful with Ms Grundy and to make sure to tell her parents what she was doing, it set off alarms ringing in her head. She opened the file and saw herself not only looking at many documents, but links and clippings to news articles as well, one of which was an obituary for Geraldine Grundy, while another was an article in a newspaper, detailing how a music teacher had killed her husband when he found out about her affair with one of her students, and then managed to give the police the slip. A photo of the woman she knew as Geraldine Grundy looked at her from the article even though the name on the tagline was very different.

The words began swimming on the screen as her breath shook, a tight feeling in her chest growing as her hands grew sweaty and shook on the keyboard. It passed in what felt like hours but was probably a minute and when she felt a bit more calm, she swore under her breath, hit the print button and flung her door open, "DAD!"

When no answer was forthcoming she vaulted down the stairs to find him cleaning dishes at the sink.

"Dad!" She repeated and he turned around, frowning.

"Abigail? What's wrong?"

"I need to go to the police station." She said and even as the words left her mouth she was surprised by them. They weren't words she ever expected to say, even with the whole Jason thing going on.

"What's wrong?"

"I can't tell you everything, it's not my story to say and I've been asked to keep their secrets but we-I saw a teacher being creepy and asked Mr Holt to check her out and-Dad she's _killed_ someone before!"

Her dad's expression, like thunder gathering on his brow and cracked his knuckles as he was wont to do when something distressed him, "I'll grab my coat."

She managed to splutter out a few more words, still feeling that panicky rush, before running up stairs. She hit the button to call Jughead and tucked the phone into the crook of her neck as she rushed, putting the printed pages into order, changing out of her pajamas.

" _Hello?"_ Jughead answered after many a ring, sounding unusually cheery. Laughter sounded in the background and she could make out Betty's voice sounding close to him.

"Are you somewhere you can talk?" She said quickly.

" _Hold on for a minute,"_ He said and she could hear him making his excuses to what sounded like Archie, Betty and Veronica. _"Ok, I'm alone, what's going on?"_

"Listen, I'm on my way to the police station, you need to make sure Archie doesn't go to Weatherbee, and try to either keep him away from Grundy or just fucking making sure you're watching, ok?

" _What do you mean, what's going on?"_

"Jughead, it's worse than we thought, alright? Grundy may be seriously dangerous, we need to tread lightly. I've emailed you what I found but I'm on my way out right now, stay safe."

* * *

Leaning against the streetlight outside Pop's Chock'lit shoppe, Jughead sighed. Through the window he could see his former friends, now reconciled, waiting for him to join them again.

Just when things had started to feel normal again.


	3. Chapter 3

**~3~**

Archie rushed through the crowd, impatient. It had already taken too much out of him to resolve to tell Weatherbee about the gunshot, and then Jughead had started acting oddly, telling him to think over what he was going to say, to take his time constructing his story, flagging him in the hallway to talk to him about something ridiculous. Already he'd missed out on telling Weatherbee about the gunshot in the morning, now it was lunch and he _had_ to get it out of himself before the thoughts choked him. He shook off Jughead who seemed to be following him, as if trying to make sure he didn't say anything to Weatherbee, which was just ridiculous. It was Jughead who'd been trying so hard to convince him to tell Weatherbee or the police, why would he be trying to stop Archie now?

No, it must have been something else bothering him. But Archie was resolved, and he strode up to Weatherbee's office, determined, only to find it closed and locked.

"Principal Weatherbee isn't here, he's been called out of the school," the office staff told him when he went to ask and morose, Archie went to the Student's lounge.

"Where have you been, man?" Jughead asked, anxious and Archie could only frown.

"I went to Weatherbee's office to tell him but he wasn't there-" The flash of relief on Jughead's face confused Archie but now he felt pretty damn sure Jughead was trying to keep him from going to Weatherbee, "What's going on?" He asked, angry.

Too angry, he had been too loud, and it was Kevin who answered, thinking the question was directed to him.

"Weatherbee's down at the police station, they're probably asking him if he knew about Ms Grundy."

Panic lanced through Archie. "Miss Grundy?"

"She was arrested early in the morning," Kevin said with utter glee at the piece of gossip, and suddenly Archie couldn't breathe.

"W-What do you mean?" He asked Kevin even as he looked at Jughead trying to ask him with his eyes if he had anything to do with this. But it couldn't be, Jughead had stayed over at his place, like old times and if he had gone to the police, Archie would have known. Until the very moment they reached school they'd been together and even after Jughead had been all but stalking him, there was no way he could have done this.

So, who?

"There she is, the woman of the hour!" Kevin cried out, looking at the door where the new girl, Abigail stood. "You sly minx, you, how long have you been spying on Grundy?"

"And just how do you know it was me who told the police about her?" Abigail asked and Archie's fists curled at his side at her casual tone. She'd destroyed Ms Grundy's life and was all but laughing about it?!

"Take a wild guess." Kevin grinned only for that grin to fall at her next words.

"So, are we going to keep a count of how many leaks have there been from your Dad's department, now?" She sneered, and as Kevin's jaw snapped shut, a muscle there ticking away with anger, Archie could only commiserate.

Abigail had a knack for pissing people off.

"How did you find out, anyway?" Betty asked, her hand over Kevin's shoulder, calming him down, and Archie wondered the same. He thought about how she and Jughead were always sitting together, talking quietly and realised that it wasn't just Jughead who'd seen him and Miss Grundy in the classroom. It was Abigail as well.

And now she was probably going to out him as Grundy's 'victim' in front of all his peers.

"I remembered reading the name Geraldine Grundy before in the obituary. I remembered the name because it was weird and had alliteration. Like Peter Parker or Wade Wilson or something. So, when we came across another one, I had my old PI neighbour check her out."

His head snapped up so fast he knew it would hurt later.

She'd lied... all to keep his name out of it. It was a kindness he hadn't expected from her.

"What is she being charged with anyway?" Veronica asked, coffee in hand, morbid curiosity in her voice and Archie braced himself for the answer. They were words he hadn't let himself think, let alone use for his relationship with Ms Grundy.

"Murder, aggravated assault of a police officer, identity theft, and four counts of statutory rape." Kevin announced and Archie reeled. He'd only expected the last one, and even then he was shocked. _Four_ counts? Murder? Identity theft?

"She killed Jason?"

"What, no, haven't you heard?" It was Kevin's confusion that clued him into the fact that he shouldn't have said that, that maybe he was being a bit too panicked and worried for a person who knew so little of why Grundy had been arrested. He was saved from further questioning by an unexpected source.

"Her real name is Jennifer Gibson. A decade ago, when her husband caught her having an affair with her student, she killed him and told the police he'd gone missing." Abigail said in a surprisingly soft voice, even as the words she said rocked Archie's world to the very core. "The student she was having an affair with started suspecting something was wrong, went to the police, and that's when they found out. Once they began investigating, they found that he wasn't the first person she'd done this to, her husband was actually her first victim. She'd dated him as a college student while he was in high school. When they went to apprehend her, she injured a police officer, and escaped. The real Geraldine Grundy died seven years ago, and Jennifer stole her identity and went back to her old tricks."

"Maybe she did it in self-defence, maybe we have it wrong?" Archie asked, pleaded and by now he could tell that Betty, Veronica and Kevin were beginning to figure out what Jughead and Abigail already knew but he couldn't—

He'd slept with her. Lied for her. Written songs for her. Missed out on the fourth of July road trip Jughead and he'd been planning for years, for her.

And all this while he was just one of many. One of her many _victims_.

"Oh, Archie," Betty said and as his friends surrounded him, creating a wall to hide him from all the other students trickling in he thought there was at least this silver lining. That he had gotten back his friends over this.

It didn't make him feel that much better.

* * *

Reggie watched as Abigail left the little group that had formed. She didn't belong there, he knew, wasn't Archie's friend the way the others were.

A few years ago _he_ would have been there. Him, and Ethel, and Midge, and Moose, the old gang. But they weren't those people anymore. He didn't understand them anymore.

"She was a cougar, like any other." He said out loud, perplexed, and Abigail answered.

"It's not just about him though, is it? She was doing for years before, she'd be doing it for years after."

"But the murder aside-"

"Ten years down the line it might have been Ollie." She said and he froze. "If she wasn't caught now, she wouldn't stop, she'd keep on at it once her flavour of the year graduated. This is a consistent pattern of behaviour. Didn't you notice how differently Archie behaved? How he wasn't friends with the same people he usually was, how he held himself apart from them, from you? Keeping secrets is normal but the sort of guilt he showed, he wasn't keeping secrets for himself. He was doing it for her, and she used it against him. They always do."

Reggie supposed he should have cared about all of it. Everything she said sounded horrible and he knew it but he was stuck on the very first thing she said.

'Ten years down the line it might have been Ollie.'

Reggie was a selfish person. So, when rumours began circulating that Grundy might be cutting a deal for information about the day of Jason's disappearance in exchange for a shortened sentence he knew what he had to do.

So, the next day the FBI agents had the 'Playbook' in their hands, with Jason Blossom's handwriting rating her a very high 8/10.

And if Chuck and his friends were kicked out of the football team that day, well, Reggie was a selfish person, he didn't care.


	4. Chapter 4

~4~

Riverdale is a small town. Everyone knows everyone. There are no real strangers in town, people didn't just go down to the police station to tell the sheriff of things, they went down to tell Mr Keller, Kevin's dad. They'd complain about them, but not file any complaint, just expect it to be sorted out. Not much happens in Riverdale, so when things happen, they're a big deal. Like Jason Blossom's death. Like Miss Grundy. Like the Southside Serpents.

But with Ms Grundy—no— with Jennifer Gibson's arrest, things get bigger. Strangers pour in and out of familiar places. First the FBI agents, then the reporters, then the curious public.

Pop's Chock'lit shoppe has never been fuller.

Pop's Chock'lit shoppe has never felt stranger.

There is a tension in the air, a sort of breathlessness, a sense of waiting. In the meantime, life goes on, people go to work, are pulled out of work for questioning, students go to school, get pulled out of school for questioning. There is a feeling that things would start happening soon, but no one knew exactly what was going to happen. An anonymous buyer is rumored to want to buy the Drive-In but in lieu of all the investigations, the anonymity of the buyer keeps Mayor McCoy from accepting.

And Jughead breathes a bit easier even as everyone else gets worse.

Through it all Abigail stays the same and it grates on the townfolk. Some are grateful, some are morbidly curious but for the most part, Jughead thinks they would have liked it if it had all stayed wrapped up and quiet and if they just didn't know what the truth of Grundy was. Ignorance was their bliss and they didn't have it anymore

It pisses him off, but there's nothing he can do. And Abigail, she isn't even angry, only derisive, which probably only makes people angrier.

"Isn't it just like the new girl to want some excitement," Tina croons, leaning over where Abigail was sitting on the couch in the student lounge. She'd been raging mad ever since her father had been taken for questioning, taking it all very personally. Even Tina's friends were sick and tired of her now, after all, their parents had been interviewed as well. Jughead had a sneaking suspicion that her name and rating was put in the playbook by Jason as well, the two had been fairly close the first semester last year. "Our little old town too boring for you, was it?"

"I didn't tell Gibson to commit the crimes and then come here and commit more crimes. Maybe you want to take a good, hard look at your town and figure out how fucked up you all are that she— a murderer, a sex offender, an identity thief— felt so much at home here." Abigail says, cutting through Tina's jabs and veiled words to get straight to the point. She rolls her eyes, tucks her earbuds back in and goes straight back to bobbing her head to the beat.

It isn't Disney she's listening to, it's some angry, shouting music in a language he vaguely recognizes as Scandinavian. And that is the only thing that clues him in to the fact that maybe she isn't as unaffected as she appears to be.

Jughead wonders about her. She doesn't exactly have anyone she can count on. He's the closest she's got to having a friend in town, and he can't help but compare her to Veronica no matter how different the two girls are. But Veronica can count on Archie, on Kevin, on Betty, and even him to an extent to back her up but Abigail...

Does she have anyone? Other than him, that is, because he'd have her back but it might make things worse for her, to have the 'bad apple' of the school as her only confidante.

He gets his answer to that when Reggie swings into the seat next to hers in chemistry class.

"Have I ever told you we have some real chemistry?" Reggie says in his smarmiest voice, and it feels like the world is righting itself again.

"Oh honey, our chemistry is nothing compared to the history we share." She quips back, her voice free of all inflection and Reggie groans.

"Ugh, don't remind me of that shitshow. Did you finish the essay yet?"

"Fuck no, I'll leave it till the last moment. If I have to look at the whitewashed piece of shit we call history I'll get nothing else done and I still have Physics homework to get done with."

"We have physics homework?" Reggie panics and she rolls her eyes.

"I don't know what you have, I'm in AP Physics."

High school had changed their gang, made it into a carictaure of itself but now it felt like the reality that had been their middle school selves were returning. Reggie wasn't just Generic Jock#1 anymore, he went back to be being Reggie. Betty wasn't just Girl Next Door anymore, she was Betty.

It made Jughead wonder if maybe he could go back to being Jughead instead of Angsty Loner Who Writes.

"Why do you like physics so much?" Reggie groans.

"Because physics is everywhere. In places you might not even think about it. Like Jason."

And with that Reggie sits up straight and all the others, who were only vaguely listening in on Reggie talking to the new girl so they knew if she was to be accepted back into their teen world, listened more carefully as well. Jughead could hear the noises drop down, as everyone wanted to hear just what she had to say.

"Physics can tell us from how up close Jason was shot, what angle he was shot at. Physics can trace back the currents in the water, tell us where he was actually dumped so we know where to look for a trail on land. And that's not even touching on what biology can tell us. Science is bae."

"Did you have to go to murder to explain that?" Reggie says tightly but Abigail snorts.

"No, _you_ would have understood better if I told you how physics can improve your abilities at football, but seeing as how every single person in this room is a busybody who can't keep their ears to themselves I explained it in a way they could understand too...I mean honestly how obvious can they get, clearly none of them are the murderer they wouldn't be able to keep it a secret. Is a little bit of subtlety too much to ask for?!"

And Jughead ducks his head to hide the smile blooming on his face even as the noise in the room 'suddenly' rises.

"So you can help me be better at football?" Reggie says and a little of the normality that they were striving for returns. For the first time since high school started, Jughead is glad for Reggie Mantle's existence.


End file.
